


In The Summertime (I'm freezing my ass off)

by Miramise



Series: I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends [8]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Dad!Leon, Gen, Multi, Piers Nivans Lives, Swearing, cute dorks bond over cartoons, implied Touch-Starved, mentioned Claire/Helena, mentioned Leon/Chris, no beta we die like men, non-sexual Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 11:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20620361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miramise/pseuds/Miramise
Summary: Jake doesn't do well when he's alone.  He can only feel warm when he's close to others.  But with Sherry and Piers both gone for a week, Jake may very well freeze in the middle of summer.Leon gets an unexpected visitor and puts his skills as 'group Dad' to work.  And if he winds up adopting another kid, well it just means he's doing something right.





	In The Summertime (I'm freezing my ass off)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aideryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aideryn/gifts).

> Based on Aideryn's headcanon that Jake is touched-starved. My take is that he 'feels' cold when he's alone for too long.
> 
> These are all pretty interconnected in their own way, but it shouldn't be _too_ confusing if read alone. This one was a little harder to write, and I feel might not be at the same standards as the others, but I still enjoyed writing it, and hope you'll enjoy reading it as well.

It was cold.

That's the thing that gets to Jake the most. It's really cold.

Doesn't matter that there's a heatwave going on and everyone would look at him like the mercenary was crazy. For Jake, it was cold.

He shifted on the couch he'd been laying on for the past hour, finally slumping down on his back, peeved at the situation.

"This sucks."

Jake held up his left arm, glaring at the brace on his wrist. He had seriously sprained his wrist on his last job, and Sherry was clear that there would be _consequences_ if he so much as _thought_ about taking another job before it was fully healed. Worse, Piers was in full agreement with her and offered to hold Jake down for whatever those consequences might be.

"Easy for them," he grumbled, "they still get to work. Only ones who like sitting around are tiny field and Pantene. Even bigger field gets antsy after a while." Sighing, Jake turned to flop on his stomach.

He considered turning up the thermostat but nixed the idea when Piers came in and complained about the place being a hotbox, and Sherry had issues with the heating bill.

"Not like I didn't pay for it," Jake groused. No, he couldn't turn on the heat.

But dammit, he was _freezing_.

A horrible chill that, deep down, Jake knew couldn't be fixed by tossing a couple of blankets over himself.

"...I wonder when they'll be back."

{{ (⋟﹏\⋞ ) }}

A week. A week of shivering in the middle of a heatwave because despite it going into the nineties, he was going to _freeze_. That's what Jake had to look forward to.

Sherry didn't really have a timeline, but from what she could tell him, Jake figured it would be more or less a week before her mission was through. Piers was training some grunts and would be a week exactly.

The redhead didn't bother hiding the whimper in his throat when he hung up the phone with Piers.

There was nobody there to hide it from.

He wouldn't last a week. Jake knew he absolutely would _not_ make it that long. He would either die from the cold—and given the temps he was sure that would drive the investigators nuts—or he would do something unbelievably stupid because fuck it, why not? There wasn't anybody there to stop him.

A nagging voice in his head told him it might be a better idea to go _find_ someone to stop him. It would also make things less cold.

There was no need to question why his inner voice sounded like Leon in 'dad-mode'. Jake simply rolled with it.

But now there was the problem of who was available to hang out with. Bigger field was out. Oh-double U-tee out. Nevermind that he was on his way to help with the grunt training anyway. Even if the older man _had_ been an option, he _wasn't_ an option. And screw what Piers said, he and Sergeant Musclehead were nothing alike and no, that isn't why 'the two grate on each other all the time' thank you very fucking much. Piers might be a cute little fucker, but sometimes he said stupid shit far as Jake was concerned.

Good thing Piers _is_ cute.

Smaller fields might be okay to visit, or Agent Hotpants even, but only if they _weren't_ together. And Jake knew for a fact that they were, and the last time anyone tried to visit unannounced, they not only got an eyeful but dislocated joints were also a thing.

Fortunately for his pride, Jake managed to bribe the two not to say just who was the recipient of those dislocated joints.

Jake realised his social circle was sadly lacking. But being a mercenary didn't let itself well to potlucks at the neighbours or anything. And on the off chance you met someone you felt reasonably comfortable enough with to visit, that didn't mean you _trusted_ them. Plus, anything having to do with feelings?

Forget about it.

This was it. This was how Jake Muller would die. Sherry and Piers would come home to either a frozen body lying petrified on the couch while some baking show was still playing on the tv, or they'd get a call saying they were listed as the emergency contact and there was a horrible accident involving candles, two motorcycles, and a goat.

At least the goat would be alive.

_'Fuck, I'm losing it, aren't I?'_

Jake was halfway in the kitchen looking for candles when his inner voice made an appearance. But whatever it was trying to said went unheard, because that 'dad-mode' reminded Jake of one other choice. Another who was on vacation, who wouldn't try and beat the tar out of him for dropping by, and was good at keeping all the 'feelings' shit to himself. Fuck, he was a generally decent guy all around, and the perfect one to keep Jake from doing the stupids.

And maybe help keep this damn cold away.

┗(=ꞈ\= )┓三

Leon turned the channel when the weather report came on. It was hot, that's all he needed to know. Hearing the numbers would just make it worse, in his opinion. Though the wave was supposed to break soon. He hoped so, because his light bill did not like how much he was running his ac. At this rate, he'd have to cut back and walk around in a pair of boxers. And he _hated_ boxers.

Chris could say what he liked, but he never had to deal with trying to wear those things with leather pants. Long briefs for life, unless it was date night. Then, well, underwear was optional.

_'Okay, no, not thinking about that right now, Kennedy. Too hot to rub one out. Nothing remotely related to sex needs to be thought about in this heat. Really, it'd be grounds for shooting someone.'_

Sexy thoughts aside, Leon was considering jumping in the shower for a bit when his doorbell rang, followed by knocking. The blond frowned; he wasn't expecting anyone today. Chris had left yesterday. Helena's vacation aligned with Claire's, so he wasn't expecting to see either of them for a week. Sherry was on assignment, and Piers had gone ahead of Chris for training.

_'Wait, if both Sherry and Piers were gone...'_

It only took a few strides for Leon to cross his living room and check the peephole. He yanked the door opened a second later to see Jake standing there. While the jeans and boots weren't unusual, seeing the young man in a jacket that was fully zipped made Leon wince; just looking at him was making the blond sweat. Despite what he could only imagine Jake's brain might be telling him, Leon was scared the younger male would pass out from heat exhaustion if he didn't get out of that.

Without a word, Leon stepped aside to let Jake in. He closed the door as Jake walked further in while absently rubbing at his left arm.

"Fuck, how cold is it in here?" Jake hunched in on himself, trying to keep any more of his heat from escaping. He didn't see the sad expression crossing Leon's face.

"It's set at seventy-nine to conserve on energy," the blond told him.

"Bull, it's gotta be low sixties at least. Better get your thermostat fixed; pretty sure it's busted."

Leon made a non-committal sound before stepping past Jake. He pointed to the boots. "Shoes off. You know the rules."

"You really want me to turn into a popsicle? C'mon." One look at Leon's 'dad-face' left Jake grumbling as he leaned against the door to pull his boots off. As he set them aside, Jake noticed several pairs of house slippers, each with a monogrammed letter near the toes. All the slippers were white, while the letters were different colours. A purple C, a red H, green J, blue P, pink S, and a brown C. Jake noticed they were grouped off by letter type, the C and H in cursive, the other C a block type, while the J, P, and S were all in...

What the hell?

"Do I want to know," Jake asked while slipping into what he now knew were his designated house shoes, "why Supergirl, Solo, and I get _comic sans_ on our shoes?"

"One, with the exception of Helena, you three are the youngest. Two, no matter how trained Sherry is, even by me, Helena is way scarier." Leon's expression went flat. "Would _you_ want to give her comic sans?"

"...Alright, point. But only because I've seen Helena play the blindfolded knife game song at double speed."

"Going to pretend I didn't hear that so I won't have to tell Claire." He noticed the brace peeking out from under Jake's left sleeve and remembered Sherry telling him Jake had sprained his wrist pretty badly a couple of days ago. "How did you get here? Because if you drove your bike, I'm under an obligation not to let you take it back, and you're going to have to bribe me pretty well if you want me to lie to Sherry if she finds out you were over here while injured."

"Okay, I know I can do stupid shit, but I'm not suicidal, and Supergirl would _kill_ me, I already know that." The redhead shrugged. "I called a rideshare. Got a little granny telling me I reminded her of her son and gave me a fun-sized Mounds." He grinned while remembering the granny wishing she could take him home to feed him because '_You're too skinny, dear. I make you a lasagne and fix that._' "I gave her five stars, obviously." Jake stepped further into the room, still running his hand up and down his arm. "Still say your AC's busted."

"Maybe." Leon went towards the hall cabinet that the linens were stored in. "I'll look at it later. For now, I have an idea _and_ it will fall in line with my plans."

"Plans? What did..." Jake paused, then swore under his breath. "Shit, man, if you had something you were going to do—"

Leon came back with a sheet tucked under his arm. "Jake? Shut up and get on the couch. My plans involved me not leaving my place, anyway," he added while making a detour into the kitchen.

"...if you're sure." Jake's doubt was still palpable as he did as told and sat on the couch. He noticed what was on the tv and cringed. "Are you seriously looking at court shows? I mean, I know you were gonna be a cop, but this?"

"Okay, one? Those shows are fake. Two, even if they weren't, being a cop has nothing to do with small claim civil suits. Three, and most important..." Leon walked back into the living room, now with a glass of what Jake thought could be chocolate milk. "I have never, _ever_ been so bored that I stoop to watching court shows. Please, give me more credit than that." The blond set the glasses on the coffee table before unfolding the sheet. "It probably just changed to that after I switched the channel. I was going to turn it off when you knocked. But given the time, I know the perfect thing to watch now."

Jake watched him, confused about the sheet as well as the milk. "Do I want to know? And what's with the milk? Is it Friday at the cafeteria or something?* Do I get recess afterwards?"

That earned him a raised brow. "Classic Looney Toons is coming on, and I'm going to watch. And yes, I'm drinking chocolate milk while I watch. I thought you might like some, too, but if you don't want it—" Leon went to grab the second glass, only for Jake to snatch it first. "Oh? I thought—"

"Shut up and turn on the cartoons. And they better have some good Daffy ones." Jake hid a wince at how cold the glass was in his hand and put it back on the table now that it was safe from repossession. He noticed Leon looking at him again and frowned. "Now what?"

"The jacket. You need to lose it."

The younger male shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I told you, your AC's broken if this is supposed to be seventy-nine. It's freezing and—" he was cut off when the sheet was snapped open and floated over his head. "This is not going to help."

"I already turned the temp up." A small lie, but then Leon knew the cold Jake kept complaining about had nothing to do with the air conditioner being on. "But seriously, the jacket needs to go. It's too bulky, anyway."

Muttered curses could be heard from the sheet. Finally, the jacket was thrust from underneath it towards Leon. The blond took it with a faint smile and walked it over to where the shoes were to hang it on the coat rack. He could hear Jake fumbling his way free from the sheet before joining him on the couch. Leon sat next to him, unsurprised at the lack of complaint about personal space.

"So you're a Daffy fan? I'm more a Bugs fan myself, though I like the Porky and Sylvester ones, too."

"Like the one with the haunted house and the mice?" Jake grinned at having found a fellow Looney Toon fan in Leon. "Hell yes. I like Sylvester better there, anyway. I hate Tweety."

"Tweety can go die in a fire," Leon huffed. "Same with Jerry. A cat's supposed to get rid of mice. Why does Tom need to be a villain."

"Okay, I agree, but MGM also has Droopy. Plus there's the Tomorrow series."

Leon blinked. "Like _House of Tomorrow_ and _Car of Tomorrow_?" At Jake's nod, the blond started laughing. "Okay, change of plans. After Looney Toons, I'll get my laptop and we find some MGM ones, too."

"Sounds good to me." Jake sat back, tugging the sheet around his shoulders. He watched as Leon grabbed the remote to change the channel. "Guess you really are a hero," he mumbled.

"You say something?"

Jake shook his head. "Relax already, hero. There's Daffy, there's chocolate milk. I'm already feeling warmer. We got all we need here, so just enjoy it."

Leon grinned. "Sounds good to me." He sat back to do as Jake said, and just enjoy the peaceful moment.

(//_^)—□ □—(^_\^ )

Piers watched as Sherry looked through the many keys she had on her keyring. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"It'll be fine. I let myself in all the time." At Piers's raised brow, Sherry coughed. "Well, whenever I know Chris isn't around."

"Least we know there's _some_ boundaries you'll respect." The brunet rolled his eyes. "I was afraid Jake had influenced you completely in that regard."

"Hey! Look, the last thing I need is to see Leon naked." Sherry shook her head before the images could think of forming in her mind. "No, just no."

This confused Piers a little, and he didn't consider Leon to be bad looking. On the contrary, Leon had won their makeover contest fair and square for a _reason_. "I mean, is he that bad to—" He blinked at the hand suddenly covering his mouth.

"Okay, I know we're not blood-related, but I still consider him kind of like my dad. So you tell me, would _you_ ever want to see your parents naked?" When she saw Piers cringe, Sherry pulled back her hand. "That's what I thought."

"Point made." Piers shook that thought loose from his head. "Still, that doesn't explain why you don't just call or knock or something."

Sherry paused, key found and held near the lock. "Leon's note kind of... I just need to see Jake's okay with my own eyes."

That Piers could understand. When they both realised neither one would be around and Jake would be left alone for a week, they each and rushed back as soon as they could. That was still far too long, as they were both more than a few hours away by plane. Jake could find trouble just going on a store run in under twenty minutes. Piers didn't want to think about what would happen in a matter of _hours_.

Not to mention, Sherry and Piers both knew how touch-starved Jake was. To leave him alone with no one was cruel, and they tried to avoid it when they could.

Both of them had arrived back at nearly the same time. The pair nearly crashed through the front door and immediately started a frantic search, calling Jake's name soon as they crossed the threshold. So it was more than surprising, and perhaps a bit alarming, to see a note stuck to the fridge in Leon's neat script saying Jake would be at his place until one of them returned.

That was unexpected, to say the least.

Piers could understand a little why Sherry needed to see for herself, as he felt the same way. He just didn't get why she was using her key instead of knocking. The brunet wondered if he should try to break her of that habit or no.

"Got it!"

Sherry only just kept herself from slamming the door open once it was unlocked. She took two steps in and froze, causing Piers to run into the back of her. He wondered why until he glanced into the living room. There on the couch, Jake was sprawled on his side, his head in Leon's lap, very much asleep. What looked like classic MGM cartoons were on the tv, while the blond himself gave the pair a mild look of disapproval.

"Am I going to have to get my key back from you, Sherry? Did you somehow forget the art of knocking? There's also that magical spell known as 'Calling Ahead'."

The younger blonde winced. It wasn't often she was on the receiving end of Leon's sarcasm, but when she was, Sherry knew it meant she'd screwed up in a major way.

"I was—"

"_We_ were worried," Piers interrupted with a soft whisper. "We both came back early when we figured out Jake would be alone. When we couldn't find him, and then found the note..." He trailed off when Leon rolled his eyes.

"What, you think I couldn't keep him out of trouble?" Leon waved the question away. "Turns out we both love old cartoons and marathoned a bunch of them. The highlight was re-enacting some of the Bugs and Daffy ones. He does a good imitation of the duck, I'll admit."

Both Piers and Sherry blinked. Of the many things they imagined would happen with Jake and Leon together, bonding over cartoons wasn't even in the same galaxy. Sherry cringed because she hadn't even _known_ Jake liked cartoons.

She was going to have to step up her 'significant other' game if she missed that. From the look on Piers's face, he seemed to share the idea.

"We ate earlier, but that was a while ago," Leon said to get their attention, "so why don't you two go get some take-out. Jake likes Italian, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he does." Piers was grateful; he knew Leon suggested it for them to offer as a sort of apology to Jake. The first of many, Piers thought. He and Sherry kind of dropped the ball on this one, after all.

"There's a place nearby I know he liked. We get something from there." She reached for Piers's hand and turned to leave when she felt his fingers curl with hers. A sharp cough brought them up short.

"And this time, _knock_ before you come in."

The pair blushed and made a quick exit. Leon sighed before relaxing back into the couch, smiling when he heard the light chuckle from his lap.

"How long do you think I can milk this for?"

"A good week, I'd say. Week and a half depending on how pitiful you can look." Leon patted Jake on the shoulder. "Go easy on them, though. They definitely feel guilty."

"I know. Hey, this is the baseball one. Tune it up."

Leon grabbed the remote to up the volume, smiling when he felt Jake shift to get more comfortable. Somehow, he felt like he'd adopted a kid in the last few hours. Not that he was complaining. Still...

"You know, this seems like the kind of thing a dad would do."

Jake stilled for a moment. "...I'm not calling you papa the way Sherry does."

"Fair enough."

The two settled in to watch some more cartoons as they waited for Sherry and Piers. And if Jake thought Leon _did_ make for a decent kind of dad, well, nobody else needed to know.

"...do I get an allowance?"

"Shut up, Jake."

♡


End file.
